1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, a method of controlling the same, and a storage medium, and more particularly to a technique of mode return control of an image forming apparatus from a power saving state thereof which apparatus is capable of performing short-distance wireless communication with an apparatus equipped with a short-distance wireless device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there has been proposed an image forming apparatuses configured to shift to a state in which power consumption is reduced (so-called power saving state) in a case where no operation request is received for a certain time period or longer. Reduction of power consumption is realized e.g. by a method of interrupting clock supply to function modules, such as a print section, which operate in a normal operation state but do not operate in the power saving state.
Further, there has also been proposed an image forming apparatus configured to perform user authentication by bringing an authentication card with an RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) tag close to the image forming apparatus equipped with an RFID tag reader-writer.
On the other hand, for the short-distance wireless communication between the RFID tag and the RFID tag reader-writer, the standard of Near Field Communication (NFC) has come to be made use of. The NFC protocol enables not only communication between an RFID tag and an RFID tag reader-writer but also communication between reader-writers, and makes it possible to perform shifting to higher-speed communication using a different channel (so-called handover). There has been disclosed a technique that uses the NFC to thereby make it possible, for example, not only to realize short-distance wireless communication of authentication data between an authentication card and an image forming apparatus, but also to display information on the start of use of the image forming apparatus to thereby enable the user to grasp the use state of the image forming apparatus (see e.g. Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2010-136016).
However, the RFID tag reader-writer consumes a large amount of power, and hence when the image forming apparatus is in the power saving state, the RFID tag reader-writer is in a powered-off state. Therefore, even when an authentication card with an RFID tag is brought close to the image forming apparatus, the image forming apparatus does not return from the power saving state.
Further, when the image forming apparatus is in the power saving state, the user is required to perform two actions: depressing a button on a panel of the apparatus for returning the apparatus from the power saving state, and then holding an authentication card with an RFID tag over the RFID tag reader-writer. This reduces user friendliness.
Further, in the image processing apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2010-136016, a time period required for the apparatus to return from the power saving state is not taken into account, and to make use of handover during authentication data communication by NFC, the apparatus is required to be not in the power saving state.